Almost two years ago, after Representative Giffords was shot, I wrote an article about the reactions by the “gun rights” advocates. Their solution always seems to be “more guns.” Since then, we’ve seen more mass shootings, including 7 this year. Every time, the gun rights advocates pull out the “if only” card, and try to use that to block sensible discussion about guns, gun control, and reducing gun violence. Yesterday, we had the 7’th shooting incident, a horrific one that cost the lives of twenty young children in an elementary school. Today, we have the “gun rights” idiots in full voice with their solution… more guns. They have a fantasy, you see.

Almost two years ago, I said this:

Obviously, the solution to a gunman in a crowded area is to allow everyone to carry guns, so that one of them could stop the shooter. The reality? All that would have done is increase the body count. The idea that someone is going to be able to calmly pull out their own gun, correctly identify the shooter, and take them down while people are running around, screaming, and the shooter is still shooting is pure Hollywood. It doesn’t happen. Ever see the reports (and videos) from police shoot-outs? I guarantee you every police officer has been trained extensively in using their weapons. They are required to be. They’re good shots. But you know what? In a real life situation, a lot of bullets get used, and only a few actually hit their intended target.

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So the reality is that anyone in one of those situations – who is not trained in dealing with them in the first place – is going to whip out their gun, and pump a lot of rounds at random in what they hope will be the general direction of the shooter. Thus upping the body count. That’s always assuming they manage to get their gun out, or don’t shoot themselves in the process.

It also holds true for the “stand your ground” idiots. We’ve already had a series of incidents, of which the Trayvon Martin case is the most famous, where people used their guns because they “felt threatened” and ended up killing someone they shouldn’t have. The reason these people were carrying guns in the first place is because they were told they should be afraid.

What the NRA – and groups following them – have been doing is playing with a misperception of risk, building a fear that makes people think they need to have guns around “to be safe.”

Misperception of risk is where you magnify a potential risk far and beyond the actual likelihood. It’s interesting to look at the areas proposing some of the most liberal gun laws, as a means of “preventing crime,” because when you do, the actual crime rates has been dropping in those areas. In other words, the fear of crime increases as actual crime decreases.

That’s besides the reality that trying to pull a gun on someone who has a gun on you just gets you shot. It also doubles your risk of getting shot or shooting someone – at home. Where you’re “safe.” If you think you’re “not safe” when you’re going to work, church, school, or a bar, then you really need to either reevaluate where you’re going, or get help. Because having a gun isn’t making you “safer,” it’s making things more dangerous. If not for you, it does for everyone around you.

I grew up around guns, I’ve owned them, and I’ve used them both professionally and for personal activities. But I (and the people I grew up with) always knew that they were dangerous, they were tools, and they had one purpose: To kill something. I don’t carry a hammer around with me at all times because I might need to put a nail in something, I carry it when I need to nail something together. The same is true when it comes to a gun. Yes, I’ll carry one when I’m going hunting, target shooting, or it’s “part of the job.” Otherwise? No.

With a right comes a responsibility. That is what the gun rights advocates avoid like the plague. They want the right, but not any responsibility. We need to start changing that, and it’s long overdue. Let’s be realistic. You don’t “need” multiple handguns, and most definitely you don’t “need” extended clips. Assault rifles are admirable military weapons, they’re crappy hunting weapons. The answer to gun violence is not more guns, it’s fewer guns and more responsibility! The first step is to drop the stupid fantasy the gun nuts are pushing. The real world is not an action or western movie, and none of us are the heroes in those. Movies are fiction, and portray a fantasy.

Yesterday was a reminder once again that this country has a gun problem. I’m heartbroken, and even more, I’m sick and tired of it. I’d really like to never see another one, and I’d really like to never have to write another post like this. We need to start taking action, and keep pushing our legislators around the country until they get the message. The first line in the Second Amendment says “A well-regulated militia.” It’s time to start regulating.

There was the movie Airheads, where Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, and Adam Sandler take hostages at a radio station so they could get their tape played. Dumb fun, but a subplot involved a clumsy nerd accountant (or something like that) played by Michael Richards – long before his little n-bomb tirade at hecklers exercising their 1st Amendment right to tell him he was dying onstage. As soon as the station is taken over (using toy Uzis filled with Tabasco sauce), nerd goes and hides in the station’s ductwork. He manages to communicate with LAPD, who actually pass him a real loaded Uzi. which he starts spraying wildly as soon as he sees the hostage takers.

That’s closer to the reality of what happens when some knucklehead at the scene has a gun and tries to act like a big damn hero.

When I was going through a leadership course in the military, we got to use the MILES gear (think laser tag). One of the field exercises was conducting a patrol, where you were supposed to try to set an ambush on another squad, and they were supposed to try to ambush you. When you’re ambushed, it turns out that most of the people being ambushed “freeze,” because they’re caught by surprise. Even if you don’t, trying to get to cover, find where the ambushers are and shooting back accurately is extremely hard. Hitting them is even harder. Yes, on a range, I can be accurate as all get out. In a situation like that? You’re spraying bullets in the general direction, hoping you hit something. In a crowd situation, you will hit something – everyone but the person you’re supposedly shooting at.

First I refuse to live my life in fear. Second I realize this world can be a dangerous place and so try to exercise due caution. Guns do not solve any problems they exacerbate them. The one thing that has been tagged to an increase in violence in a society is inequality and the greater it gets the more violent it becomes.
That said I have lived through way too much and this country has seen to much “Abraham, Martin, John, Bobby” all good men all gone before they made their mark but the promise was there.
Children killing children, parents killling children, sick people who can’t or won’t get help killing others. We have more homeless than ever. An entire cable network dedicated to spreading fear and terror to the gullible and uneducated audience they cater to. Evil will triumph when good men do nothing so let’s all get out and do something. Write and call your senators and congress critters. Sign the petitiions, call the White house. Refuse to be bullied and pass it on. Whe you go into a public place and FOX is on ask them to change the channel or turm it off.
This all applies to everything not just guns. Global Warming is real, the country isn’t broke, cutting the programs that help people will make things worse, we’ve had 30+ years of this BS take to the streets if necessary.
Believe it or not in a recent poll most of the NRA members believe in gun control

I spent 9+ years living in Washington DC when it was known as “the murder capital of the US.” At no time did I feel the need to have a gun in my apartment, or to carry one around with me. Yes, there were places I didn’t go, but having a gun wouldn’t have made me want to go there anyway. Most of the arguments I’ve heard from the pro-gun people don’t hold a lot of water when looked at realistically. I’ve had people tell me they use their AR-15 or whatever variant for hunting. Seriously? I can’t think of anything to hunt that needs a 20 round (or more) clip and rapid fire with a high-speed small caliber bullet. There’s a lot better weapons for it, and they don’t have that “as fast as you can pull the trigger” bit.

Jason Alexander–of Seinfeld believe it or not–articulated the REAL mentality and reasoning behind these gun rights extremists better than I ever could:

“These people believe that the U.S. government is eventually going to go street by street and enslave our citizens. Now as long as that is only happening to liberals, homosexuals and democrats — no problem. But if they try it with anyone else – it’s going to be arms-ageddon and these committed, God-fearing, brave souls will then use their military-esque arsenal to show the forces of our corrupt government what’s what. These people think they meet the definition of a “militia.” They don’t. At least not the constitutional one. And, if it should actually come to such an unthinkable reality, these people believe they would win. That’s why they have to “take our country back.” From who? From anyone who doesn’t think like them or see the world like them. They hold the only truth, everyone else is dangerous. Ever meet a terrorist that doesn’t believe that? Just asking.”